Asset management and security are of paramount importance in the gaming field. Casinos must continually control the access to and account for large sums of money in the form of cash, chips, and the like. This task is made difficult by the large number of people who must necessarily have access to and handle the cash, chips, and the like, such as dealers, transportation personnel, back room personnel, and the like. For example, it is a common practice in the gaming field to utilize tables, such as blackjack tables, craps tables, roulette tables, and the like, that are each equipped with a container for holding cash and a tray for holding chips. This chip tray, for example, is typically covered by a lockable glass, metal, or plastic lid. The chip tray is selectively secured to the table, thereby securing the chips to the table. A security lapse could potentially result in the loss of tens of thousands of dollars or more. To deter theft, the personnel who are responsible for the handling and movement of money (e.g. cash, chips, etc.) are continually observed and required to generate reports detailing their actions and the actions of their coworkers, thereby providing a record of who did what and when. The reports enable management to cross check the flow of, access to, and people having responsibility for money. The more comprehensive the reports, the greater the utility and deterrent effect they have. The cost in man-hours to generate and compile the reports is a limiting factor. By way of example, a pit boss in a casino is responsible for the operation of multiple gambling tables—anywhere from 1 to 20 tables. If a table is closed, the chips are typically secured in a chip tray with the lid locked. The chip tray is monitored by overhead cameras. Most lids, while serving as a deterrent, are not designed to be impenetrable. When a dealer needs to gain access to the chips, he or she must request a manager (i.e. the pit boss or the like) to open up a table. The pit boss typically goes to a control room for a key to unlock and remove the chip tray lid. Before taking possession of the key, the pit boss must sign the key out. The pit boss is usually escorted by a guard and a second security person or another manager when taking the key to the table. The dealer is present so that, once access to the chips is provided, he or she may start the game, and the dealer needs to view the contents of the chip tray when it is opened to know the value of the chips in the tray. Typically, the pit boss then returns the key to the control room, where it is signed back in and secured. Again, the pit boss is accompanied by one or more security personnel to ensure the safe return of the key. Typically, the key is unique or one of a very few, and if the key is missing, casino security protocol assumes that the key has been duplicated, and dictates that all of the chip tray locks must be changed. Replacing the locks is expensive, in part because of the cost of the lock, and in part because of the potential disruption to business. All chip trays accessible by the key are vulnerable, and the mindset of a casino is that if one key has been stolen, then the locks on all of the chip trays should be changed.
Thus, what is needed in the art is an automated keyless asset management system that provides comparable or greater security than conventional manual key-based asset management systems. Further, what is needed in the art is an automated keyless asset management system that monitors the status of an asset and its container (e.g. whether access to an asset has been granted or whether it is secured). Additionally desirable would be a system that selectively grants authorized access to an asset, maintains a log of who initiates a request to access the asset, tracks when the asset is secured and unsecured, and the like. The system should also generate reports detailing the actions of the personnel who deal with an asset when it is secured or unsecured, and a historical record of the status of the asset over a specified period of time. In addition to maintaining comparable or greater security than conventional manual key-based asset management systems, the automated keyless asset management system should also retrofit existing chip trays and tables, for example, and be substantially invisible to players—with no visible change in the layout of conventional gaming tables. The system must be robust, in that it is reliable and cost effective, and be compatible with a conventional manual key management system, such that a chip tray may still be opened by a key, for example.